Thai Basil Chili Pork

I know this dish is typically made with ground chicken, but since I have ground pork leftover from making Yong Tau Foo I decided to use pork instead.

This dish tantalizes the taste buds with the saltiness of the soy sauce, tangy-ness from the fish sauce, spiciness from the red chili and hint of sweetness from sugar. The smell is also wonderful when cooking it, the aromatics fill the house and envelops you in comfortness.

Thai Basil Chili Pork

1 lb of ground pork (I used those with 20% fat)
2 red chili
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/4 cup of fresh thai basil leaves
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tablespoon light soysauce

Breakfast at Cafe Cup in Huntington Beach

Craving pancakes a few days earlier I searched for a nice breakfast place for the weekend. Cafe Cup seemed like a good choice with a good balance of savory items and big fluffy pancakes. Most of the reviews recommended either the enchiladas or chicken chilie verde so we decided to go with one of that and an order of blueberry pancake to get a dose of antioxidant.

The restaurant was packed on this overcast Sunday. The seating capacity was probably under 40 and people were constantly waiting outside. The wait for us was short as it was only the 2 of us plus we went at a slightly better time.

Food took quite long but with the great conversation we were having time passed fast.

I wasn't expecting the pancakes to be this big ($7 for 3) and worried about finishing them all as the chicken chile verde omelette came with potatoes and 2 slices of toast as well ($7.95, we switched to egg whites and added $1).

The pancakes were warm moist and fluffy, worth the weekday wait. The chicken chile verde was full of flavor and the chili verde was a tad too spicy but didn't deter us. We drenched the dish with salsa they provided in small canisters on the table. The potatoes which we ordered well done was crispy on the outside, kinda like it had some batter, but soft n mashed potatoey on the inside.

Great breakfast place but would recommend you come with a party of 4 or less and try to be there before 9am. Parking can be tricky too as there's a 24 hr fitness in the same plaza and apparently many people like to workout on weekends *shrugs*.

Cafe Cup

5930 Warner Ave

Huntington Beach, CA

(714) 840-8991

Mon-Fri 7am - 2pm, Sat & Sun 7am - 3pm

My ultimate fave place to eat in Chicago

While searching for a hot dog joint on yelp, I stumbled upon some lovely pictures of well fried fries. Fried carbs are my achilles heels so of course I had to check the place out. I browsed through the pictures, saw some awesome po boys and truffle fries! I happily scheduled Big and Little into our meal plan.

When we stepped into the restaurant, we were greeted by wonderful smells. We ordered a soft shell crab poor boy truffle fries and a grilled fish taco. I had very much wanted to order the fish and chips but didn't want too much grease in the meal so opted for a healthier fish taco.

We sat on the bench and the table next to us was feasting on several orders of fish and chips. I was green with envy. The 2 pieces of fish were humongous and the batter looked so crisp and thin. I immediately regretted my decision.

The soft shell crab was phenomenal! The crab was so fresh and the batter so light crisp and flavorful. Major YUM! The grilled fish taco was also very good. The portion was good the fish was well seasoned and fresh an topped with shredded cabbage with a slightly spicy sauce. Truffle fries oh truffle fries..they were sooo delectable. Fried well done and drizzled with truffle oil. Gotta say all 3 choices were hits! However, I know I will hate myself if I didn't come back and try the fish and chips especially after this great meal.

So, back to BnL we went the next day. We were the first customers and ordered just the fish and chips since we knew what a huge portion it was. Naturally we swapped the fries for truffle fries.

Before you think I'm crazy for loving this place so much, read this blog entry. It give you insight into the owners, background and best part, e went back 3 times during his stay.

My fave place to eat in Chicago is neither famed for hot dogs nor deep dish pizza. They serve up wickedly good seafood and fries and much much more. I know I will miss them dearly when I'm back in Socal.

Hot Doug!

Chicago is well known for their hot dogs and deep dish pizza, so these 2 were on our must try list. Yelping hot dogs for Chicago gave us Portilla Hot Dogs as the most reviewed with an overall 4 stars rating. Thing is we have one in Buena Park and it seems silly to go Chicago to have something we can eat here. So I turned to my trusted google and found Hot Doug. It is located beyond the city center but nothing too far that the awesome public transportation in Chicago cannot take you to. An approx 45 minutes and 2 bus rides later we arrived slightly before 11am and there was a short queue and the seats were mostly taken.

We decided to choose the specialties since other regular hotdogs can probably be gotten in other places. I ordered the pork with sundried tomatoes and basil while he ordered chicken sausage with cheese and bleu cheese on top. An order of fries is a must and I'm glad we came on a weekday when duck fat fries were not available otherwise I would have a very hard time resisting them in the name of health.

Our order came shortly and we dug into it happily. I was careful with my first bite, not wanting to squirt out oil. To my surprise the hot dog was not oily at all. The basil and tomatoes added a refreshing twist to the sausage, the whole combination worked well and i couldn't get over the fact that it wasn't greasy! His hot dog was oozing with cheese from within and the bleu cheese added a much welcomed tang. The fries were well fried and the small portion was more than sufficient for us.

Dim Sum Brunch @ Ming Hin Chicago

Took a vacation in Chicago and came back recharged and filled to the brim with yummy food. The trip did not get off to a great start as we were bumped off our flight and the flight we were put on was delayed 3 hours. So we spent a good 8 hours or so stuck in the airport. At least we got some useful travel credit out of this ordeal.

On Sunday we went for dim sum brunch in Chinatown. I did some research and Ming Hin with it's good website drew me to it as they had zha leong on the menu and their website allowed for online booking. We were there around 10am and the place was already close to being full. The decor was nice and modern, far cry from the Chinese restaurants in Socal. They gave us a menu with lovely pictures of the food and we ordered by checking the boxes next to it.

First up was the quintessential har gow. It is the usual suspects that will indicate what kinda dim sum restaurant it is. MH's har gow passed with the not too thick skin, flavorful and succulent shrimp.

We also ordered char siew so which is Chinese BBQ pork enclosed in golden puff pastry. This was goood. I have not had this for quite a while and MH did not disappoint. The pastry was flaky and not oily and a hint of sweetness from I guess brushing syrup on top. The char siew to pastry ratio was also just right. The filling had no fatty pieces of meat which suited me well!

Next was something that captivated both of us. I've had very good salted egg yolk custard pau in Singapore so my expectations were high. I ordered the polo bun version instead. The polo bun was tasty with the right amount of sweetness. The salted egg yolk custard while good did not have the molten lava texture I was expecting. To think I even warned the boy that the insides might flowing out. Nonetheless we both enjoyed this very much. He's never had this before so he was really pleasantly surprised by it.

Then my zha leong came. I first had zha leong several years back in Hong Kong and my cousin brought me to Sweet Dynasty. The zha leong was so good my friend and I visited the restaurant again just to savor it before we left. Unfortunately this is one dim
sum item that is not widely available. It baffles me because chinese fried crullers are so readily available and most restaurants offer it, so why not stuff it inside some cheong fun? Alas, the zha leong at MH wasn't good. The cruller was stale which ruined the whole dish.

Another standard dim sum dish for me would be the lo bak go (pan fried radish cake). This one had a smooth texture but I felt it wasn't fragrant enough.

The boy wanted the glutinous fried rice and that was the last item for our brunch. The rice was ok but I didn't think it was worth $7 for such a small portion.

Crabmeat Pasta

One of my all time fave pasta would be Marmalade Pantry's crabmeat linguine. The sauce it tomatoey with a hint of heat and freshness of the crab with a little crunch from the toasted pine nuts. I've yet to have any crab related pasta at Italian restaurants here, so decided to recreate it myself.

I'm all for convenience and ease of doing things. I simply do not like buying 20 ingredients to make a meal. I had an opened bottle of pasta sauce in the fridge so decided to use that instead of crushed tomatoes. I jazzed it up with sweet onions and shallots and some minced garlic for the aroma. Here's my adaptation of crabmeat pasta.

Crabmeat Pasta (Serves 4)
- 2 6oz canned crab meat
- a bottle of ready made pasta sauce (approx 15oz)
- half a white onion
- 1 big shallot
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 packet of pasta
- salt and black pepper to taste
- chopped parsley
- shredded parmesan

Saute onions and shallots with some preferred oil of choice. When onions and shallots are soft and are starting to brown, throw in minced garlic. This is so the garlic will cook for a shorter period of time as burnt garlic will render the sauce not as tasty. Pour in ready made pasta sauce or canned crushed tomatoes. Let sauce come to a boil and reduce slightly. Add in the canned crab meat together with the liquid in the can. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you are using ready made pasta sauce, it probably is already seasoned, so be light-handed on the salt. Bring sauce to a boil and serve over pasta of choice. Add chopped parsley and shredded parmesan.

Pizzeria Mozza Orange County

I can only attribute my absence for the last 3 months to sheer laziness. It is hard taking good pictures with the iPhone and I'm too lazy to take it with my digital cam or the dslr so I've been putting off many posts because of that.

Nonetheless, I feel compelled to share this meal because it was simply too good. I'm sure there are many fans of Pizzeria Mozza out there but just wanna contribute my 2 cents!

It was the eve of the Lunar New Year and so we decided to give ourselves a treat and make a long overdue visit to Pizzeria Mozza in Orange County. I was so excited about this meal because the last 2 times I tried it in Singapore, I left feeling so happy to have tried such yummy food.

We started the meal with their famed Proseco and we were served breadsticks. Wait a minute, breadsticks???!!!! What happened to the herby crusty amazing crisp bread I had in Singapore? Needless to say, I was disappointed in the plain un-creative breadsticks but that did not ruin my anticipation for the meal.

Knowing that their appetizers are as good as the pizzas, I suggested getting 2 appetizers and a pizza. I've read so much about the herbed fried potatoes I knew we had to have that. The baby potatoes were smashed flat and fried, with the outer layer crispy and the insides still soft and warm. They were served with a bunch of fried herbs (sage and rosemary) and chickpeas. Sea salt was sprinkled over to lend another layer of flavor. This dish was great, something I would order again and again. Would have preferred to have more potatoes and less chickpeas though.

Next appetizer was the mussels in a spicy broth. It was served with 2 slices of crusty bread. The spicy broth tasted vinegarish, reminding me of the chilli sauce for chicken rice. This dish was decent but did not have me awe-struck. I still prefer the Tasting Kitchen saffron mussels.

The star of the meal arrived next. I have to admit that when he ordered the brussel sprouts, red onion and pancetta pizza, I didn't have high hopes. I was not a fan of brussel sprouts (yet) and thought this might just be an okay pizza. Boy, was I wrong! The sprouts were cooked till tender and yet retained their lovely green color. The red onion lent a refreshing taste to the pizza and the pancetta gave it the saltiness and smokiness. Cheese was sprinkled sparingly over the pizza so as not to steal the show. The crust, Mozza's signature crust, so yeasty and crunchy at the right spot. This was perhaps the best pizza I've had at Mozza.

I'll definitely be back to try the other delectable items, but I really hope they will replace the ordinary breadsticks with the herby bread they serve in Singapore.  This will certainly kick it up a notch!